Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Every year when the holidays draw near, the lists of predictions are published. How long the lines will be, how much money consumers will spend, which toys will be the most popular, and much more.

But of the toy list, trend-watchers tend to be fairly accurate, with many items that they name ending up the must-haves for children everywhere. Case in point: Let's Rock! Elmo.

We had the pleasure of reviewing this little red rock star and his coordinating instruments back in September and Big Sister E and Little Sister B were beyond excited about getting to join in on the musical fun. The way that Elmo sings, dances, drums, plays the tambourine and more is fun in itself, but the fact that he actually recognizes the instruments in his hands or, even better, the one that YOU are playing, is just downright cool.

As singing and strumming musicians, Let's Rock! Cookie Monster and Let's Rock! Ernie come to life to rock all on their own... but also contain the same magic that allows them to sync up to Let's Rock! Elmo. If you've never seen any of these characters move and interact, it really does seem as though they must be alive to be able to follow along with the music (and each other) so well!

Considering how much fun we've had with Elmo since his arrival, when Cookie Monster and Ernie showed up, it was time to really get this party started.

Pulling them out of the box, we found that these band mates are a little smaller than Elmo and also don't have his ability to stand or move on their own. But as for cuteness? They've got that!

After giving these two recognizable characters plenty of hugs, it was time to enjoy them separately as well as paired up with Elmo (Ernie and Cookie Monster don't interact with each other).

Let's Rock! Ernie comes to life by pushing down on his right arm, causing him to rock out and strum his music on his guitar in a fun, cheerful way. Each push results in a different musical chord and phrases such as, "Let's rock together," "Ready to rock with me?" and "Yay! That was fun."

At the same time, Let's Rock! Cookie Monster wakes up when you move his right arm (which is holding his microphone) in front of his mouth. His phrases include things like, "Hello, Sesame Street," "Testing! Is this thing on?" and "Thank you! Thank you. Thank you, everybody!"

As as added innovation, Cookie Monster actually sings/speaks louder when his microphone is closer to his mouth and quieter when it is further away — how's that for realistic!

While Ernie and Cookie Monster don't have the same number of movements or actions that Let's Rock! Elmo does, they're both still a unique way to bring these beloved characters to life for kids.

Also, when it came time to have each of these new band members play a song for Elmo (which is accomplished by holding down Ernie's arm or keeping Cookie Monster's microphone in front of his mouth for a few extra seconds), it was really fun to see them perform together!

Although we did have a few times when Elmo wouldn't realize that Ernie or Cookie Monster had started playing, he tended to get caught up after a verse or two. We also found that pushing Ernie's arm down was at times a little difficult, but nothing that either of my children couldn't handle. In all, these are a really cute addition to the Let's Rock! family!

(Other than the Let's Rock! Ernie and Cookie Monster that I was provided by Hasbro, I was not compensated or enticed or to do this review in any way. This review is solely my honest opinion of these toys.)